BIOGRAPHY

Kevin Purcell (Conductor / Musical Director / Composer / Arranger)



Kevin Purcell returned to Australia in 2001 having spent the
previous eight years working throughout the UK, Europe
and the USA as a musical director and conductor.

Emigrating to the U.K. in 1994, Kevin came to the attention
of Sir Charles Mackerras. Sir Charles invited him to assist on
concerts with the London Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, Welsh National Opera, Covent Garden and the
BBC Philharmonic. Kevin was subsequently awarded the
prestigious Sir Charles Mackerras Award; conferred through
the Australian Music Foundation in London, with additional
funding for a further two-years study at the
Janackova Akademie Muzickych Umeni V Brne (JAMU)
in the Czech Republic to study conducting with the late
Otakar Trhlík. In 1996, again in London, Kevin was further
honoured with The Tait Memorial Trust Conductor's Award.

At the end of 1994; at the invitation of Ian Campbell, General
Director of the San Diego Opera, Kevin was engaged as
Assistant Conductor on a production of Dvorak’s operatic
masterpiece, Rusalka with Renée Fleming.
During this period Kevin also conducted Carmen (UK)
and Die Zauberflöte (USA).

The American conductor, David Robertson, invited
Kevin to conduct Ensemble Intercontemporain at the
Paris Conservatory during 1995 in works by Varèse
and Boulez. During this period he also conducted
the Silesian State Opera, Hradec Králové Filharmonie,
Beethoven Chamber Orchestra, Königsgrätz Philharmonic,
West Bohemia Symphony Orchestra and the
Georgian State Television and Radio Orchestra (Tblisi)
in a live broadcast performance of Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No. 6 (Pathetiquéˆ).

On returning to England, Kevin was privileged to
conduct LAUDIBUS - the National Youth Chamber
Choir of Great Britain in a concert in Cambridge
and guest direct the Ealing Abbey Choir.

Kevin moved to the USA in 1998 to further his conducting
career. He was appointed Principal Conductor of the Central
Ohio Symphony Orchestra for a period of two years between
1999-2000. Major performances during this period included,
Holst's, The Planets, Stravinsky's, The Rite of Spring,
Korsakov's, Scheherazade and Grieg's, Piano Concerto in A
Minor.

Other musical direction distinctions have included an
invitation to work with Harold Farberman at The Conductor's
Institute in 1996-97 and Péter Erdei from the
Kodály Institute (Hungary) and the Liszt Academy (Budapest)
for choral conducting studies. In 1993, having achieved
joint-first prize in the Bellhouse Conducting Competition
in Sydney, Kevin had the opportunity to assist British conductor,
Myer Fredman, at the Australian Opera where he worked
on productions of Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly;
having been awarded the Willem van Otterloo
Conducting Scholarship. Before moving to Sydney,
Kevin accepted an offer to undertake advanced conducting
studies at the Moscow Conservatory with
Gennady Rozdhestvensky and Leonid Nikolaev.

Between 1996-98, he worked for Cameron Mackintosh on
several of his productions in London's west end, most notably
as musical director for the New London Theatre production
of CATS and musical preparation for Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th
Birthday concert at the London Palladium. During this period,
Kevin also completed orchestrations for the prestigious Lady
Taverner's' Gala; also at the Palladium, including performances
by Sir Cliff Richard, Roy Hudd and other luminaries of the
British Stage. In 1998, he musically directed the Chichester
Festival production of Sweet Charity.

In March 2000, Kevin undertook the musical direction for the
US premiere of the highly acclaimed new Musical, Napoleon
before its transfer to London's west end. Kevin's musical
direction for West Virginia Public Theatre throughout 1999
(Cabaret [Mendes version], Man of la Mancha and The
Unsinkable Molly Brown) met with unanimous acclaim for its
unsurpassed excellence. In July 2003, Kevin renewed his
association with the Really Useful Company Asia Pacific Ltd.
as Musical Director for the Korean premiere of Andrew Lloyd
Webber's CATS.

Other activities have included the role of Assoc. Musical
Director and lead orchestrator for HATS-OFF; (Oz Showbiz
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS) charity concert in Melbourne in
November 2005, and supervising Stella Entertainment's
production of Jonathan Larson's RENT at The National Theatre.
In recent months, Kevin has undertaken the musical supervision
and arrangements for the eight-part television series,
The Magic of Musicals, and conducted the orchestra
sessions for the new Australian film, The Line.

As a theatre composer, Kevin premiered Rebecca - The
Musical; based on Daphne du Maurier's timeless novel, with
book and lyrics by Victor Kazan. This work, regrettably,
is currently withdrawn due to international rights restriction. 
Kevin and Victor’s new theatre project is an adaptation of
The Mapmaker’s Opera by Canadian author, Béa Gonzalez.

Previously, Kevin has undertaken two composition residencies
(1994 and 1996) at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada.
He was chosen, in 1992 and 1995, as a composer for
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s ‘National Orchestra
Composers School’. All of Kevin’s orchestral works; including
the Symphony No. 1, have been performed by
the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (MSO) and
The Queensland Orchestra.

His current commissions include a new Sonata for
Violin and Pianoforte, The Silent Well, for
Canadian violinist, Jasper Wood (2008 favourite
classical artist - Canadian Independent Music Awards),
a Concerto for Australian Chinese saxophonist Allan Yang
for the 15th World Saxophone Congress in Thailand, 2009
and a new choral work for St. Catherines School.
His music is available through the publishers:
Publications by Wirripang.

Kevin is on the Board of Directors for the
Australian Music Centre in Sydney and Professor
and Director of Music at Central Queensland University.